Ron Ben-Israel, fresh off the debut of his new show on the Food Network, Sweet Genius, showed off his cakes skills with a cake pairing: Salty Godiva chocolate cake with salty pistachio and mascarpone filling and an almond cake with brown sugar and apple fillings. For a review of Ron’s new show, Sweet Genius go here.

Catrine Oscarson from Mas Farmhouse brought a date cake with cinnamon caramel cranberry compote and yogurt mousse. She also brought some House-made marshmallows as well. Catrine’s desserts from Mas were featured on these pages a few weeks ago.

Mad Mac's Macarons - fall collections #1

The colorful and flavorful French macarons from Ludovic Augendre and Florian Bellanger of Mad Mac.

Allison Kave from from First Prize Pies transported us to a New England bed and breakfast with her Hot Chocolate Pie with Godiva Chocolate. This was no ordinary pie–it had a serious spicy kick to it. You can find Allison selling her pies at the Hester Street Fair. Look for a video of Allison talking about this pie later this week.

Stephen Colluci from Colicchio and Sons brought a beautifully composed dish containing a peanut butter chocolate pretzel tart and banana malted milk. He also had a huge tub of dark chocolate pieces with pretzels. The banana malted milk was not sweet at all which helped cut the sweetness factor of the tart. Look for a video of Stephen talking about his dish later this week.

Confetti Cakes Elisa Strauss Godiva White Chocolate Push Pops

Elisa Strauss used a cool “push-up” apparatus to house her delicious White Chocolate layer cake. Look for a video of Elisa talking about her cakes soon.

Deborah Racicot from Gotham Bar and Grill brought a cinnamon cheesecake with roasted figs. The roasted figs added some texture to her silky smooth cheesecake. Gotham Bar and Grill has been putting out superb desserts for years. Go here for DessertBuzz coverage of Gotham Bar and Grill desserts.

Ashley Brauze from DB Bistro Moderne brought one of my favorite desserts of the evening. She said this light dessert was meant to compliment all the chocolate desserts that were expected to be on hand. I found the “Plum Delice” (Ricotta Mousse, cornmeal poundcake, plum gelee and candied corn) to be really light and flavorful–the candied corn was a nice touch as well. Look for a video of Ashley talking about the dessert in the coming weeks.

Andro Micheli of Adour (at Alain Ducasse) brought a roasted cranberry crumble with whipped vanilla cream. This dish also reminded me of a New England or Vermont bed and breakfast–it was like a bite size apple crisp except made with cranberries.